Chapter VII - Broomsticks and Butterbeer

The Weasley household was unusually empty. Only Ron remained at the house, and he generally spent most of his day at work in the shop at Harry's. Ginny was at Hogwarts and George had finally decided to move back into the apartment above Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
The joke shop was thriving once more. George had rehired his old staff as well as several new employees. He was even thinking of expanding and buying Zonko's, like he and Fred had planned. But things just weren't the same, nor could they ever be. It was hard facing the truth- he had tried to ignore it, but it was always there, just waiting to be acknowledged.

He continued Quidditch practice, which was now every Saturday. Afterwards, the entire team would have lunch in Hogsmead. George enjoyed these training sessions more than anything else and always arrived early to practice, as did Angelina. It was these early morning practices that he enjoyed the most. Angelina, he found, was excellent company and conversation flowed easily between them. It was what kept him going.


It was late October, a week until Hallowe'en, to be exact. The days had grown colder and Quidditch practice wasn't the most pleasant prospect, unless, of course, you were George. Not that Quidditch had much to do with it.

Saturday morning dawned just as chilly and frosty as the preceding day. The team did not play for long as they usually did, for Wood had not been able to come and both Harry and Ron had left early for a meeting at the ministry. The remaining four had butterbeers in the Three Broomsticks after, as was their usual.

Alicia and Katie soon departed once they had appeared to exhaust of any further conversation. When Angelina made no move to do so also, George decided, finally, to say what he had wanted to say for a number of weeks.

"Hey, Angelina?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering...well, Bill and Fleur are having a Hallowe'en ball next Saturday and well, I reckoned you might want to come?" Why was he being so awkward? Whenever he and Fred had asked other girls out, they had been really laid back, too laid back perhaps...George chuckled at the memory of them finding dates for the Yule Ball in their sixth year. They hadn't made any particular effort, and yet things had turned out perfectly...well, not exactly, but he had enjoyed the evening, regardless.

"Oh, I- I'd love to, um, that is, if Bill and Fleur wouldn't mind?" Angelina was turning redder by the second.

"Of course they wouldn't mind, er you see we're all allowed to bring partners and I suppose I was hoping, you know, that, well that you'd come with me, as my - well yeah,"

"Oh I- I see...well I'd better be going, see you next Saturday then!" Angelina hurriedly put on her coat and left the Three Broomsticks, her face red, but smiling.

Author's Note: The last few chapters have been rewritten, I'd like a Beta, but I have no idea how the system works...if somebody could help?